India vs England 2016, 5th Test, day 4 - 5 Talking Points

Records tumbled right throughout the fourth day’s play of the fifth Test between India and England in Chennai. Resuming at a deficit of 86 runs, the hosts surged to a position of outright dominance with a majestic batting display.

Karun Nair was at the forefront of it with his monumental triple century driving the visitors out of the game. Upon reaching their highest ever team total in Tests, India ended the day with a 270-run lead which could turn into significant scoreboard pressure on the England batsmen.

Let us go through five major talking points from the penultimate day’s action.

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#5 Vijay plays hide-and-seek with DRS

Upon nicking one, Vijay remained stoic this time around

After hurting his shoulder while diving at backward point, Murali Vijay had walked out to bat at number six yesterday. Before getting his eye in at the start of a new day, the elegant right-hander attempted an extravagant drive to a good length delivery and offered a simple catch to the wicket-keeper. Stuart Broad couldn’t be bothered to look back in his celebration, however, the umpire remained unmoved.

Having used up all their reviews, England did not have any choice but to comply with the on-field call. Meanwhile, Vijay showed no reaction whatsoever and chose to ride on the opposition’s misfortune, unlike the 3^rd Test wherein he had walked off to a nick, knowing that DRS was available then.

Eventually, the umpiring error did not make much of a difference as he was trapped in front for 29.

#4 England‘s day of persistent pain

Cook had no answer to whatever the Indian batsmen came up with

Having gone down 0-3 in the series already, England might not have expected the tour to get any worse. But, the last couple of days shoved that notion through the back door with their bowlers experiencing sustained agony during the fourth day.

The first session fetched them just a solitary wicket while the second and third ones rendered them completely irrelevant. As the going got tough, shoulders began to droop and catches started to evade their clutches. Far from England’s historic triumph in their previous trip to this part of the world, Captain Cook looked bereft of ideas as the final nail was being drilled into the coffin.

#3 Nair’s rise presents selection dilemma

Nair’s rise could come in the way of Kohli’s five-bowler theory

India’s playing eleven has been like a rollercoaster ride during the current home season with players coming in and going out due to a slew of injuries. Interestingly, Nair might not have come into the side were it not for Ajinkya Rahane’s finger injury.

Now that the 25-year old has shown what he is capable of, the team combination going forward (one-off match against Bangladesh followed by a 4-match series against Australia) could cause quite a few headaches for the think tank.

When Rahane recovers adequately, skipper Virat Kohli faces a tough decision on his hands and might just have to compromise on his preference for playing five bowlers.

#2 From 66/6 in 2014 to 666/6 in 2016

MS Dhoni often walked into bat at perilous positions during the 2014 series

While India’s 2014 tour to England contained a famous victory at Lord’s, it is now remembered mostly for the lack of fight shown by MS Dhoni’s team in the last few matches. When confronted with a shining Dukes ball on spicy pitches, the visitors struggled badly and often got off to woeful starts. During the fourth and fifth Tests, India found themselves at 66/6 in every innings.

Cut to 2016 – Dhoni has ridden off into the sunset with Kohli taking over the reins of a side battle-hardened by a round of tough overseas tours. Despite conditions being drastically different and the momentum with them, India’s batting effort in the first-innings drives home the point that sport is a great leveller.

#1 Are India placing too much emphasis on personal milestones?

Kohli’s action seems to have contradicted his own words

“One thing that I really wanted the team to do was express themselves in Test matches and not think about personal performances. Because, a lot of the times, you have an hour in the Test match where you can take the game away and you are still not willing to go for it because you are close to your milestone or things like that. These are the things that we have gotten out of our system completely.”

Those were Kohli’s exact words at the conclusion of the previous Test in Mumbai. Exactly a week later, the skipper’s decision to delay the declaration in order to accommodate Nair’s triple ton remains a highly debatable one.

While there could still be sufficient time to enforce a result and finish with a 4-0 score line, India might just have missed out on an opportunity to make a bold statement as well as put the England openers under relentless pressure.